Broken Flower
by Aria6
Summary: There are many Shadow Worlds. These are places where things happened differently, where the path of history took a different course. What will happen when the Sora from one of those Shadow Worlds meets the Sora from Kingdom Hearts? SoraxRiku eventually
1. Chapter 1

Sora turned on the fluorescent lights of the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror.

It was something he did every morning. He wasn't really certain why, anymore. He knew what he looked like and it wasn't a pleasant sight. His face was like a crumpled flower, beautiful and smooth on one side and caved in and deformed on the other.

It had happened when he was only six. A tumor had started growing there, and had turned out to be a malignant cancer. He'd had to undergo urgent surgery to remove it, and he was lucky to have survived. After years of radiation treatment, the doctors were confident that he was cancer free.

For a while, it had seemed to make no difference. He'd recovered and his friends had been glad to have him back. They were children, and everyone seemed to accept it. He'd smiled a lot, even though it made his face tighten and look more crumpled.

He would always remember the day that had changed. Sora had been twelve when he'd felt the fluttering beginnings of his maturing sexuality, and he'd had a shy crush on Riku. The silver haired boy had always been his best friend. They'd competed in everything, played on the beach every day and gone to school together. He hadn't really expected Riku to return his feelings, but he hadn't expected to have them crushed so brutally. He'd gone over to Riku's house, casually letting himself in without knocking… they all did that with each other… when he'd heard Riku and Kairi talking. He'd paused to listen.  
_  
You know, Riku, I think Sora has a crush on you._

_Ha! You must be kidding, Kairi. Who could love a face like that?  
_  
And just like that, the bottom had dropped out of his world. He'd fled the house, holding back tears until he was safely alone in the woods. Once he was safely alone, he'd wept until he couldn't cry anymore, until his nose and eyes were swollen and aching and he could hardly breathe. And he could still hear the words in his head.  
_  
Who could love a face like that?  
_  
A day didn't go by where he didn't hear those words. After that he had pulled away, hardly able to even look at Riku. He'd stopped meeting them on the beach. Stopped joining them after school. At first, Kairi had tried to reach out to him, but he had ignored her until she finally stopped. Riku tried a few times, but Sora had snubbed him even more firmly. He knew it had been rude, but at least the pain had stopped.

He still went to the beach, but only when he was sure no one would be there. He still played in the water, but only alone. Alone was safe. Alone alone alone.  
_  
Who could love a face like that?  
_  
Then the darkness had come to the Destiny Islands, and what little he had was taken away.

* * *

Sora watched, expressionless, as the gem dealer rolled the stones through his fingers, and reached up to adjust the scarf that hid his face.

When the darkness had eaten the Destiny Islands, he had been spit out here in Nazarethim. It was a dark city in a dark land, but perhaps that was what had spared it from the darkness. He knew Riku has passed through it on his quest to save Kairi. Sora had spotted the silver haired boy, and had eavesdropped just enough to know what he was doing. For a moment, he had contemplated offering his help, but hadn't worked up the nerve to talk to Riku before he was gone. And mostly, Sora was glad.

He had no idea if Riku had succeeded or not, and finally decided not to care. Nazarethim was his home now, insofar as he had a home. Curiously, his deformity had been a shield when he first arrived. Slavery and boy brothels were common here, but a slaver couldn't expect to get enough profit out of a slave as ugly as him to make up for feeding him. And as attractive as his body might be, no procurer could overlook his face. You might not have sex with the face… well, most of the time… but you certainly couldn't hide it.

So he'd been left unmolested long enough to get the hang of things and ended up apprenticed to a thief. So far, he hadn't been caught, although Sora had no illusions about his eventual chances. And the penalty for getting caught was usually a broken hand. Or it could be your life. No one really cared.

His main goal right now was to put together a big enough stake that he could afford to take lessons in magic. He'd already discovered he had a knack for it and if he was good enough he could get a scholarship. Nazarethim's mage academy was second to none and renowned all through the worlds. But he couldn't count on the scholarship, so he needed enough cash to see him through.

The gem dealer finally stopped playing with the stones and quoted him a price. Sora's lip on the good side of his face curled, and he immediately made a counter-offer. He finally had to settle for what he thought was perhaps an eighth of the stones market value. It was always like that. He preferred stealing gold and silver… the markup was better… but sometimes you had to take what you could get.

Now he would have to pay a cut to the big boys. That was how things went, too, and he wasn't about to hold out on them. He'd seen what they did to people who tried. That one girl made him look pretty.  
_  
Who could love a face like that?  
_  
Grimacing slightly, Sora stamped on the voice, although he knew the echo of Riku's words would never go away. Then he looked around with a frown, slowly turning.

Someone was watching him. He could feel it in his bones, and he didn't ignore feelings like that. Pulling out a shiv, he waited a moment… but then the feeling suddenly vanished.

Odd. That would have to mean it was magic. But he hadn't pissed off any wizards recently that he knew of. He'd have to keep a watch out. He wasn't afraid of magic, but he was cautious.

* * *

Maleficent looked thoughtfully at the mirror in front of her.

She had acquired it just recently, at no expense but considerable difficulty. It was reputed to be the mirror that Snow White's wicked stepmother had spoken to. Maleficent had her doubts about that, but whether it was or wasn't, it was a powerful relic. And it was capable of indulging far more than stupid vanity. She'd used it already to find a broach she thought was lost forever.

But now, she had in mind something considerably more difficult.

"Mirror, mirror, doing what you can… show me who can help with my plan." She finally said, almost gagging on the rhyme. But the mirror seemed to have some old fashioned ideas and wouldn't respond to anything but couplets. Shadowy mist filled the mirror for a moment, and it finally cleared to show a boy dressed all in black and grey, with a grey scarf wound around his lower face. Maleficent's eyebrows shot up as she recognized the spiky brown hair and blue eyes… surely two people couldn't have the exact same, pointy hairstyle… and it took her a moment of studying before she realized what she was seeing.

The picture wavered in a way that was familiar, and it helped her figure out that she was looking at a shadow world. The name was a bit of a misnomer. Shadow worlds were actually entire universes that operated on similar rules, but had gone slightly different. Alternate timelines, alternate realities, they were generally far more trouble than they were worth. There was a magical transmission from one that had caused a bit of a sensation a while back. Maleficent had seen it. It had mostly consisted of several powerful wizards showing their buttocks and giggling. Magic was wasted on some people.

The boy seemed to feel her regard, and looked around suspiciously, pulling out a very sharp knife. She raised her hand and dismissed the image, then regarded the mirror thoughtfully. It had been hard to see with the scarf around his lower face, but there had been something… odd about the child's face.

She would have to look into how to reach a shadow realm. This could prove useful.


	2. From Bad to Worse

Sora scowled into his beer, thinking.

He was sitting in one of the crappier taverns in Land's End, the cities slum district. It was the kind of place where you went if you were either dead broke or saving and had no sense of smell. And no one ever asked what went in the stew. It was a sure bet that you really didn't want to know.

But the food was filling enough, even if it was terrible and the beer was worse. And it was all boiled so long that no one ever died from it, no matter what they put in it. So Sora came, because he was saving every copper and this was the place for cheap.

He lifted his head, watching dispassionately as a fight broke out. There was plenty of swearing, and when he saw it looked likely to spread he slid easily under his table, watching from cover. One man tried to grab the cashbox, because there's always one, but the landlord clubbed him soundly. Soon the rowdies were thrown out, and everyone else got back to eating or soaking in cheap alcohol.

Sora took a deep drink of the beer, and sighed. He didn't like it… no one would… but it was safer than the water around here. He'd learned that the hard way. He was fifteen, and on the Destiny Islands he wouldn't have been allowed alcohol for years, but no one cared here. He'd found that he liked good wine and spirits, but they were too expensive for him to get. It was probably just as well. His old master hadn't been as picky, and had ended his life as a graphic demonstration on the perils of alcohol.

Finishing his meal, Sora placed his money on the table and stood. The serving girl was there almost immediately, whisking away the coins. He had paid for the meal already, so the coppers were her tip. It wasn't much, but most of the patrons here didn't tip at all, and she smiled at him tiredly before he slipped out into the night.

He wasn't sure why he did things like that. He should have just saved the coins, but… he couldn't help giving a few to the people who were worse off. It was like there was a light inside himself that refused to stop caring about others. It was a tiny _yes_ against the night, and he couldn't stop feeling it, no matter how jaded he became… or how hard he tried. It was the feeling that prompted him to give food to beggar children, donate a few coppers to the charity wards… and sometimes, forgive the ones who hurt him.

_Who could love a face like that?_

Ignoring the echo of the past, Sora found one of the usual spots he used to begin his work, and climbed easily onto the roof of a crowded tenement. He mostly did rooftop work… his face was too distinctive for the more subtle thefts. Burglary suited him well.

He had a few targets in mind for tonight, and hopefully one of them would work out. But he needed to be careful. If he was caught, there would be no coming back. A broken hand was practically a death sentence in his line of work.

* * *

Sora brought his money to the safe house early in the morning.

Crime was well organized in this city, and the big boys always took a slice. But there were a few compensations. They were always willing to hold your money for you, at no charge, and it was good as gold that it wouldn't be stolen or messed with. No one would dare. Most of the thieves made use of this service, since it let the big boys make sure they weren't holding out and also secured their savings. It would be a terrible irony, coming home after a night of burglary to find out you had been burgled.

A little grey woman with a tight bun of hair, glasses and a pursed mouth counted his money, added it to a ledger then passed him a receipt. Sora politely thanked her, but she was already waving ahead the next person impatiently. Early morning was their busy time.

The safe house offered a bit more than just money storage, though. There was a store, catering to the needs of thieves, murderers and various other professions Sora didn't really want to think about. He looked at the grappling hooks thoughtfully. His last one had been lost in a particularly dangerous episode, and he hadn't used one since, but if he wanted to make it into a certain building he would need a new one. Selecting a new one, he brought it to the counter to pay for.

"Hey Sora!" Sora looked up in surprise at the bright, brassy voice and grimaced to himself. A golden haired, dapper man was making his way over, although he paused for a moment to admire a rather nice blackjack. Sora glanced around, but saw there was no real escape without being incredibly rude, and resigned himself to an encounter with Harry.

Lovely Harry, as he was called by his numerous girl and boyfriends, was one of the more notorious characters in the neighborhood. He was the go to man for anything you needed… especially if it was very, very bad for you. Dream dust? He has it. Bloodweed? Might not have it at the moment, but he can get it. Poppy juice? Oh my yes. The list of drugs and substances went on and on. In all fairness, Harry didn't push his products on children or anything truly disgusting. He didn't have to. He had a steady clientele in all kinds of rarified places.

But they wouldn't tolerate him getting out of his place, so he lived in the slum like everyone else, making conquests and breaking hearts. And for some perverse reason, he had clearly decided that Sora was going to be his latest project. Sora easily avoided a butt pat, and Harry pretended he hadn't been trying to do that, leaning against the counter. The cashier gave them a sour look, but said nothing.

"You're lovely as always." Harry said it the way he said everything… with complete sincerity. Sora had to repress a snort. Although, since Harry wasn't looking at his face, maybe he really meant it. Although the way his admiring gaze was traveling over the rest of his body wasn't reassuring either. "So, Sora, I have a proposition for you."

"Not interested." Sora replied automatically, and Harry spread his hands with a smile.

"Ah, but you haven't even heard the details!" Sora gave him a disgusted look, but it didn't put Harry off for a moment. He leaned closer, confidentially. "You see, I have a, ahem, supplier. He runs caravans all across the world… but lately he's been having a bit of a problem. A bit of stock has gone missing. He's done quite a lot of internal checking, but now he's thinking the problem is a rather bold thief! So, he asked me, Harry, if I could find him a trusty thief to travel with his caravans. Nothing better to stop a thief than another thief, eh?" For about the first time, Sora was actually interested in what Harry was saying. That kind of job wouldn't pay as well as what he was doing, but it was safe, stable employment.

"How much is he paying?" Sora asked, and Harry smiled.

"Five silver a fortnight." Sora grimaced… that really wasn't too much. "But all meals and board are included. It's not bad board, either, especially in the towns." That helped. Sora nodded thoughtfully. "So, are you interested? Because there is a price…"

"You want me to steal something?" Sora asked flatly, hoping that was it. Harry smirked, and ran his eyes down his body again.

"Actually, I was more hoping you could give me something…" Sora's lip curled and he stepped back.

"I've told you before, Harry. I'm not a whore." Sora stepped back, and started for the door. "If that's what you want, you can take your offer and shove it." Harry was momentarily speechless, then drew a breath.

"What's wrong with you? Such a damn icicle! It's just a bit of fun." Sora paused, frowning. Harry almost had a point. But… he didn't have much dignity left, and wanted to keep the little he had. He strode out of the store, and turned into an alleyway-

And couldn't move. Startled, he looked down and saw tendrils of darkness reaching out of the ground, tangling his legs and holding him in place. He drew out his shiv and slashed at the tendrils, but that did nothing at all, and Sora slowly began to panic as the tendrils moved up his body, coiling over his chest. It was too much like when the Destiny Islands had been eaten.

"Sora, I'm sorry, I just- ah!" Harry turned the corner and jumped back, going white. "Sora!"

"Harry." Sora managed to say, reaching out, and the man actually reached back… but it was too late. The last thing he heard was Harry shouting something as he fell into darkness.

* * *

Harry stared at the place Sora had stood, and scuffed the ground cautiously with a toe. The alley looked completely normal now, not the site of a powerful magical incident. Harry pulled off his hat and nervously played with it, trying to think of what to do. He had a few wizards on his contact list, but they would expect payment to look into anything like this. And Sora was just a boy he'd hoped to get in his bed, not family. Finally, Harry put his hat back on and shook his head.

"What a crying shame." Stepping back, he started out back to his home… but glanced cautiously into the shadows.

He wouldn't forget what had happened to Sora in a hurry.

* * *

Maleficent sat down heavily, exhausted almost to the point of trembling.

Bringing the boy to the real world of Kingdom Hearts from a shadow world had almost been too much. But she'd managed it, and the unconscious boy was lying on the ground in her work room. Lifting a hand, she strained herself a bit further with a simple sleep spell. It wouldn't do to have him waking up too quickly.

She drank a restorative potion, then sat for a moment and gathered her strength. As soon as she was sure she wouldn't fall over, she stood and summoned Pete.

"Take him to that girl's room, the one in the tower." She instructed him. Namine's old room had been designed to keep her in, so it would do equally well for this boy. "And put some food and drink in there, for when he wakes up." Up close, she could see some subtle signs of malnourishment in this Sora. He was well muscled but too thin, and didn't look entirely well. Perhaps lack of vitamins.

"Sure thing Maleficent!" Pete hoisted the boy over one shoulder and carried him out easily, as she closed her eyes. She needed to sleep. The spell had been most draining.

She could deal with the boy tomorrow.


	3. Thief of Light

_Far, far away, in a deep, dark place._

_No one had ever been in this cavern. No one ever would. If someone, however, was that foolish and determined they would have quickly suffocated on the fetid air. And that would have been a mercy, because the sight of the thing inside would have destroyed their minds, and the things it would have done to them would have been worse still._

_It smelled of blood, vomit and shit. Urine and rot. Every vile smell in the world, collected and distilled into the essence of suffering and horror. And within that cavern, the thing that was lightly dozing stirred._

_Someone had intruded. Someone had warped its domain, if only for a moment, and the thing within the cavern was aware of the intrusion. Eventually, it subsided. The unexpected nature of the intrusion had allowed the intruder to escape unscathed._

_But it was aware of the nature of the intrusion now. If they ever intruded again, it would have the intruder. If the monster could have smiled, it would have._

_Death would come, but only after the intruder had lived his or her full span of years._

* * *

Sora opened his eyes to a white ceiling in a white room. For a moment, he lay still, assuming he was dreaming. Then he abruptly sat up, the blanket falling away from his black and grey clothes. He looked around sharply, searching for any threat.

But there was only a white room. Almost painfully white… but broken up with pictures on the walls. The only other color in the room was the food and drink sitting on a white desk. Sora swallowed, realizing that his throat was bone dry, and slid out of the bed, standing and walking over to the desk. Cautious sniffing of the drink couldn't tell him anything, so he poured himself a cup and carefully sipped. It was water, a bit tepid but clean. Of course, it could have been poisoned or drugged… but he would just have to take that chance.

Sora looked over the food and licked his lips, before picking up a slice of cheese. This was the kind of food he rarely saw in Nazarethim. Cheese that was made from actual cream, sliced meats and white bread… this was the food of the rich. And the fruit slices were an unimaginable luxury. For a moment, Sora felt an overwhelming homesickness. This was exactly the kind of fruit and deli platter his mother had sometimes made, when she didn't feel like cooking. Unlike Nazarethim, food had been plentiful in the Destiny Islands.

"But that's why the islands are gone, and Nazarethim is still here." Sora reminded himself out loud, and helped himself to the food. Assuming it wasn't poisoned, there was no reason not to indulge.

Chewing on a little sandwich, he made his way around the room, looking for any way to escape. He easily came to the conclusion that the only way out was the door. There were windows, but they would have required a much longer rope than he had on him… or pitons with a special adhesive to cling to the wall going down. And that would have been chancy. The walls looked perfectly smooth and very white.

Everything here was so white, it was rather disturbing. Nothing in Nazarethim was white. Even the very rich didn't bother with the color, since it seemed to dirty almost immediately from the very air. Sora had always thought that was symbolic of Nazarethim's position in the darkness. It was a world and had a Kingdom Heart, or so he assumed, but it wasn't a good place. Actually, that was putting it too mildly. The people there were only trying to survive, but Nazarethim itself was a bad place. It would never be fruitful, never give what everyone needed to survive and the land itself seemed to take lives with a gleeful hunger. It had no shield the way most worlds did and should have been overwhelmed by hungry swarms of Heartless… but Heartless never touched it. Sora had heard of the Heartless when he eavesdropped on Riku, and had looked it up in the library afterwards, and he found the lack of Heartless in Nazarethim curiously disturbing. What was keeping them out? Something far more terrible than they could ever be?

As he thought, Sora did a very good job at demolishing the platter, savoring every morsel of fruit. He hadn't had fruit in years. Even most of the very rich didn't have fruit… it grew unreliably at best. The only relatively common fruits were crab apples and horrible, tart greenberries. They could be jammed, but the sugar was too expensive. Mostly, they were made into some rather good alcohol.

Finally, he was completely finished the platter and beginning to get bored. He started examining the pictures. They looked like child's drawings, mostly, and it was hard for him to figure out who and what they were supposed to be. Mostly he had no clue.

"Surely someone wouldn't bring me here to bore me to death." He mumbled to himself, then turned as the door opened. A woman in black, with odd green skin, stepped through and looked at him thoughtfully. He frowned faintly as he felt her energy. He was sensitive to magic of all sorts… that was how he knew he had the gift for it, and it was a valuable asset to his work as a thief. He was getting a distinctly fairy feeling from this woman.

That was odd. Fairies existed in Nazarethim, but they were never very happy about it. Flotsam and jetsam from other worlds, they were trapped in the dark world and ended up being changed by the energies of the place. They were usually vile and twisted or sad, broken things. This woman was entirely different. She felt dark, but it was a darkness of her own choosing. Still… Sora remembered the caution his old master had given him about fairies and demons both.

_They'll hold to the letter of a promise, but they always lie. Except when the truth can hurt you more._ He didn't demand why she had brought him here, or how… he simply looked at her, waiting for her to speak. Eventually, she did.

"So, you are Sora." She said with a pleasant smile, and Sora nodded back cautiously. "I've brought you here because I have a proposition for you."

"Oh?" He said cautiously. She smiled again, walking up and placing a hand on his back. Sora frowned, but didn't pull away.

"Yes. But first, there's something I want to show you." She waved her staff and the wall across from them seemed to vanish into darkness… then a scene formed. It was like a window into another world, and Sora blinked, tensing. Was that… himself? But the face. He made a soft, almost anguished sound as he saw the other boy smile and it was perfect.

"Yes, that is you… the way you could have been if this," And she ran a finger over his face. Sora was so distracted by the scene that he didn't jerk away, the way he would have normally. "Had never happened. He and his friends have been quite a thorn in my side." The scene expanded, and Sora saw with shock that his… other self was speaking to Kairi and Riku. It looked like they were on the Destiny Islands.

Maleficent watched Sora silently, as he watched the scene play out… and she knew the exact instant she had him, when his blue eyes went from shocked to flinty and cold. Maleficent glanced at the scene, and saw that Riku had put an arm over Sora's shoulders. She smiled to herself. There were many pathways to the darkness of the heart, but none was as sure as jealousy. Sora finally drew a deep breath.

"What do you want, and what are you offering?" He said harshly, and Maleficent smiled, resting a hand on his back again.

"I want you to steal something. Something very, very important. Then, I want you to help me with the rest of my plans… when we've punished these children, I'll do my best to fix your face." Maleficent reached down and pulled away the scarf, touching the deformed side of Sora's face. He frowned with his good side, but let her tilt his head up to the light. "I can't promise anything. The damage is most extensive. But I will try. However, even if I fail… you will receive a pound of gold and a dozen jewels." Sora's eyes widened. That much gold would take him easily through wizard school, and then… even if he wasn't a powerful mage, he'd be able to make a good living selling love charms and potions.

"I'll do it." He replied immediately. Part of him stubbornly tried to tell him it was wrong, but he ignored it. What did he owe these people anyway? And besides… his eyes turned flinty again as he thought about his other self, standing there with Riku. He would enjoy hurting them. He really would. "So what do you want me to steal?" Maleficent smiled again, pleased with her tool.

"As to that, it's a very unique object…" Maleficent explained as Sora listened intently, ignoring the little part of him that seemed to be crying…

* * *

"Hey Riku, catch!" Sora threw a frisbee at the silver haired boy, who caught it with a laugh and tossed it towards Kairi. She jumped but missed, and it landed in the sand.

They were playing on the beach in the Destiny Islands. The world was saved, and they had gone home… although there had been a few incidents after that. Mostly they had foiled a few of Maleficent's plots to become an all powerful ruler. Other than that, everything had been going quite well. They were all going to school again, and enjoying just being teenagers.

Kairi suddenly stopped, as she saw something in the bushes stir. "Sora!" She pointed and Sora followed her gaze… as a half dozen Heartless hopped out of the shadows. He and Riku both summoned their keyblades.

"Heartless? Why now?" Riku muttered, and Sora nodded. They hadn't seen Heartless in the Destiny Islands almost forever. But it didn't matter… they Heartless attacked, and they easily beat them off, destroying them. When it was over, Sora lowered his keyblade-

And yelped in pain as someone rammed a shoulder into his side and tore the keyblade out of his hand. There was a stinging pain and Sora rubbed his fingers as he watched the thief take off, wide-eyed. Riku and Kairi both gaped.

"Someone thinks he can steal a keyblade?" Riku said, more amused than anything. Keyblades were bound to their wielder, so that really was rather funny. Sora grinned and tried to call back his keyblade… and suddenly went white.

"It won't come back! STOP!" Sora took off after the thief, and Riku and Kairi were frozen in place for a moment before they started running too.

"What do you mean, it won't come back?" As far as Riku knew that should have been impossible. Unless the keyblade itself had chosen to go to someone else, but why would that happen?

"I don't know!" The energy of desperation was with him, and Sora was gaining on the thief. Although… it seemed like the thief wasn't really trying to outpace them completely, just keep them running. He jumped easily over trees, ran up hills and then climbed up a cliff… Sora climbed up after him and Riku shouted something but the thief was there, waiting for him. "Give me back my keyblade, you… you…" Sora stopped, staring into hard blue eyes and a face that was so _familiar_ yet so wrong what was wrong with his face?

"No." The boy said simply. "I hate you." Then the boy punched him in the face with the hilt of the keyblade. Sora heard bones break before everything went dark.


	4. Glory Bloom

Author's Note: I think this is going to be a very short story compared to my other ones, but that's not a bad thing! I hope you all enjoy, please read and review. Please? Not begging!

Sora stood in front of Maleficent, swaying slightly as he held the keyblade. He blinked several times and swallowed, resisting the urge to spit. He wanted to… to purge himself of the hate inside him.

He hadn't expected it. He'd expected a feral edge of enjoyment in hurting his oh so pretty other self, but he hadn't expected his real reaction when he saw them playing on the beach. He hadn't expected the hatred that had boiled up like lava, a dark, sick, powerful emotion that had made him shake and sweat. At that moment he'd wanted to do more than hurt his double, he'd wanted to kill him. And he'd wanted to do the same to Riku, for being there and caring about a more perfect him. The only one his hatred had spared had been Kairi.

That hatred had led him to play with the other Sora. He should have just taken the keyblade and jumped into the darkness as Maleficent had shown him, but he hadn't. He'd toyed with the boy and then, out of nothing but malice, broken his jaw and shoved him off the cliff. Riku had caught him, so he was sure his other self was alive, but hurting. And that was good.

But the voice of his conscience would give him no peace, telling him sternly that what had happened to him wasn't their fault. And the depth of his hate had frightened him.

"That was very foolish." Maleficent finally said, her eyes glittering as she looked at him. He could only nod. He had let his hate rule him. "Sora saw you, although it's quite likely he won't realize what you are." Sora nodded again. He wondered what his double would make of what he saw. Would he think he was a copy, like the Riku Replica? He smiled nastily at the thought. If his other self thought that, he'd be entirely unprepared for the truth. Maleficent had explained the concept of shadow worlds to him. "Still. Remember, if you allow the darkness in your heart to grow too much, it will consume you." Sora swallowed at that, then nodded again. "Now… go to your room, rest, and practice with the keyblade. There will be other tasks soon."

"Yes, Maleficent." He finally spoke, and left. Maleficent watched him go thoughtfully. There was so much darkness in the boy… yet such a strange core of light.

He would have to be watched carefully.

* * *

Sora slowly ran his fingers over the Kingdom Key as sat at Namine's old desk, thinking.

The key felt good in his hands, as if it was meant to be there. Which was odd… he recognized the keyblade of course. It was the one Riku had used, during his brief stop in Nazarethim. It made him wish he knew more about what had happened to Riku and if he had finally found Kairi's heart. If only he knew what happened in his world maybe he would understand why the key felt so… right. And he really wanted to know, because it worried him.

Maleficent had been sure he would be able to steal the key from his other self because they were, essentially, the same person. Sora hadn't mentioned it to her, but after touching the key he wasn't so sure that was what had happened. He thought the key had chosen to come with him for some reason. And that was worrying, because what if the key chose to go back… probably at a very bad moment? He couldn't afford to trust it, but he needed to use it to do what Maleficent wanted. Sighing, he picked up the keyblade and began to practice. Swordwork was completely unfamiliar to him. A thief's weapon was a knife or a blackjack, something easy to hide. Although… the keyblade was very easy to hide, too. Sora smiled bleakly at the thought. It was a good weapon for a thief.

For a while, as he practiced, he thought of nothing else but the weapon and how to use it. But after so long in Nazarethim, where he had few friends and even fewer entertainments, Sora had developed a tendency towards introspection. And he couldn't put off thinking about it forever.

"I'm so jealous." He whispered to himself as he struck out with the blade at nothing, trying to adapt his knife fighting to a longer blade. "Why is he perfect and I look like this?"

_Because he didn't have cancer. It's just a trick of the body… he got lucky and you didn't._

"It's not fair." Sora surprised himself with the bitterness in his tone. He'd thought he was past expecting things to be fair… but then, this was himself. The unfairness was much harder to swallow.

_Life isn't fair… and what you're doing to him now is even more unfair. He didn't do anything to you._

Sora closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. That was very true. But… "I need the money. I need to get my face fixed. And if he hasn't done anything to me, he hasn't done anything for me. I owe him nothing." That was all true.

_Then you need to try not to hate him. And not break his bones for fun._ Sora flinched at that thought. His conscience could be pretty nasty sometimes.

"I'll try." He wasn't certain how well he would succeed. The emotions his other self stirred in him were just too powerful. But he would try. It was the least he could do.

* * *

Sora opened his eyes, and saw nothing but a blur. Struggling to focus, he finally made out a silver haired boy over him… "Riku?" He managed to say. His face felt stiff and sore, and had the tingling feeling he associated with many healing spells cast quickly.

"Thank goodness." Riku's strong arms were around him, helping him sit up, and Sora rested his head on the silver haired boys' chest. "That little bastard broke your jaw, and he could have broken more if I hadn't caught you. What did he look like? If you can talk." The healing spells would have put Sora's jaw back together, but it would still be painful for a while. Sora's eyes widened, and he disregarded the pain.

"Riku, it was me! He looked just like me except… his face. There was something wrong with his face! He wore a scarf over the lower half of his face." Riku blinked and looked at Kairi. She was kneeling beside him, holding Sora's hand. She frowned, thinking.

"Organization 13 is gone, but they were working on that replication project… maybe this is something else they made?" Riku nodded as Sora looked uncertain.

"That would explain a lot. And that means Maleficent must be behind this." She had the Organization's old castle. She could easily have found and released anything they had left behind. "Or… maybe he's just acting on his own." The Riku Replica had gotten his own ideas of what to do, so maybe Maleficent had just released this one and wasn't in control. "Either way, we should probably go to Castle Oblivion to find out what's going on."

"Not just yet." Kairi said firmly. "Sora needs time to heal." It would take at least a day for the healing spells to fully fix Sora's jaw. It had almost been shattered; the boy had hit him so hard. Sora nodded in heartfelt agreement. He didn't feel like moving at all… Riku's arms around him were so comforting. Riku sighed, and leaned down to gently kiss Sora on the forehead.

"Alright. I'll carry him home." Sora blushed and squirmed as Riku stood, picking him up.

"I don't need to be carried!" But Riku only smiled at him.

"But I want to carry you." Sora subsided, but gave the silver haired boy a glare. That only made Riku smile more. He and Sora had been intimate for perhaps a year, and he liked to sometimes coddle the younger boy… and it always irritated Sora. It was very cute, although Riku took care not to overdo it. The one time he had, Sora had finally ambushed him in the bathroom and shown an unexpectedly dominant side of him. Riku shivered slightly in pleasure at the memory.

Actually, maybe he should overdo it. That had been fun. Distracted by the pleasant thoughts, Riku stopped thinking about the thief. They could deal with that tomorrow.

* * *

Sora stood in front of Maleficent, waiting for her instructions. She eyed him a moment, then pulled out a magical cube. Inside it was a particularly beautiful flower. The petals were a luminous white and the throat was blood red.

"This is what I want you to do. Sora and Riku will be leaving the Destiny Islands… and perhaps that appalling girl too. Plant this flower on Riku before they go. The cube is magical, it will vanish as soon as it touches him. Make sure this is done before they go." Sora frowned faintly, but nodded and took the flower.

"Yes, Maleficent." He vanished into the darkness, and Maleficent smiled.

It was so nice to have competent help that asked no questions.

hr

Sora skulked in a tree overhead as Riku and Sora talked. His heart ached as he heard the gentle teasing… it reminded him so much of when he and Riku had been on speaking terms. That six month silence between them before the darkness had devoured the Destiny Islands had been… painful. Very painful. At least in Nazarethim, he hadn't avoid looking at the silver haired boy all the time.

Sora pulled out the flower and stared at it. Maleficent didn't know that he hadn't asked questions because he already knew the answers. He wasn't a drug purveyor or addict, but he'd done enough business with Harry over the years for sleeping tonics and painkillers that he could recognize most of his stock. And Harry always kept these in stock. They were highly popular with some of his most elite clientele.

Glory Blooms, as they were called, had to be handled very carefully. Special, non-permeable gloves were required and a special cleaning solution for the knife you used to section the bloom. Harry mostly sold them whole to his clients and let them do that themselves, since the flowers began to whither quickly when they were sectioned. But sometimes a whole group of wizards bought one and had it sectioned ahead of time so they could each just pick up their piece.

Glory Blooms were a drug for wizards. On contact with flesh, the bloom vanished, releasing its toxins into the bloodstream of the person in contact with it. The result was an euphoric high, but that was only a side effect. The reason wizards used it was the tremendous, although temporary boost in magical power it gave. The Glory Blooms were pure magic. Maleficent had probably had this one in storage for her own use, and decided to use it in a new fashion.

Sora's hand shook as he held out the cube. He only had to drop it. Riku was directly below him. It would land right on his head and hair didn't matter for a Glory Bloom. But Harry did so love to talk, so Sora knew what would happen then. Overdoses of Glory Bloom were the stuff of nightmares, so he always cautioned his clients very carefully on correct handling… but a few were careless, and Harry had lost some clients that way. He had cheerfully related how the wild magic would reduce the body to nothing but a puddle… but not quickly or painlessly. Not at all.

For the very first time, Sora was contemplating killing someone in cold blood. He had killed before, but mostly bully boys and drunks who had gotten too friendly despite the face. They had been directly trying to harm him. This was entirely different.

_Who could love a face like that?_

Sora's eyes hardened and the hatred welled up. It would serve Riku right. And his double could suffer as he had suffered…

_No Sora STOP it's not right and it's NOT THEIR FAULT!_ The voice inside him screamed at him in a voice that was oddly like Kairi's, and Sora blinked, shocked back to sanity. The hatred vanished as if it had never been, leaving a sick, trembling void behind. Had he really almost done that? With an oath, he threw the cube away. The two boys on the beach looked up at the sound and immediately spotted him overhead. His other self began to say something, but he didn't stay to listen, vanishing into the darkness.

* * *

"You didn't carry out your mission." Maleficent stared at him, her face expressionless and her tone cold as ice. Sora stared back, unafraid.

"No." He sounded hoarse as he spoke. "I know what Glory Bloom is. I know what it does. I couldn't. That's vile." Maleficent finally showed some expression… disgust. Then she sighed.

"Well, fortunately, there is a backup plan. Although you will no longer be a willing participant." Sora tensed and tried to open a corridor to darkness… and found that he was blocked. He swallowed, then stood proud and straight. If she was going to kill him, he would meet his fate with dignity. "You've broken our agreement, and it's null and void. So now…" She gestured, and dozens of Heartless appeared. Sora summoned the Kingdom Key to meet them.

They attacked with lightning speed, and he was quickly hard pressed. He'd never used a sword before and his practice just wasn't enough. But more than that, they just kept coming. He smashed them to the ground, one after another, but there were more. Finally, he was simply overwhelmed… but they didn't kill him, just held him, and he squirmed as Maleficent began casting a spell. It burned on his skin like acid, and for a moment he felt a strange… something. Ghostly sensations on his skin. Then Maleficent started another spell, and he swallowed as a single Heartless… changed. It changed into a black, lightless version of himself.

"You know what to do." She said to that Heartless, and it nodded. "Take him away." The other Heartless dragged him off, and Sora wondered what was going on.

He had the distinct feeling that he didn't want to know, but was going to find out anyway.


	5. The Truth Hurts

Sora concentrated very, very hard on wiggling the rope around. It was rubbing his wrists raw, but if he could only slide it up a little farther he could get some play into the ropes… maybe enough to get them into range of his teeth so he could start chewing them. It would take forever but the Heartless didn't seem to be paying a lot of attention.

That wasn't at all reassuring, though, considering what it was doing. Sora tried to ignore it, and the cold touch of air on his bare skin. He was tied facedown to a rock slab, and he was completely naked. That was disturbing on all kinds of levels.

"It's amazing, you know." The Heartless spoke, and Sora had to strain to hear it. It had a breathy, raspy voice. "I'm an echo of you, all the darkness in your heart, and I know all the dark, terrible things you know." Sora stopped moving his wrists and shivered as the Heartless ran a hand up his thigh. It's 'flesh' felt cool and slightly greasy. "You haven't experienced much directly, but you know all kinds of awful things, don't you?"

"Of course." Sora said gruffly, concealing his fear. He did know so many terrible things. He'd just been smart enough and ugly enough to avoid having them happen to him. He'd seen the aftermath of brutal rapes and heard the details. One street child he'd given money to had been raped with a broken broom handle and died of infection. And he knew about plenty of non-sexual torments… too many to list. The big boys liked to make a point of their displeasure, when someone stepped over the line.

"Of course, of course." The Heartless repeated mockingly. It ran its hands over his skin, exploring him like a lover, and Sora cringed. He was sure he knew where this was going and he didn't like it at all. He shuddered, then tried to breathe slowly and evenly and let all his muscles relax. If he could only give in completely, maybe it wouldn't hurt as much. The Heartless chuckled. "Oh, that's not going to help at all. Good thought though."

"Why are you doing this?" Sora asked, trying to distract the Heartless. It seemed to like to talk. "Why does Maleficent want you to do this?" Maleficent certainly had a cruel streak, but he couldn't see her having him tortured just for fun. There had to be a reason.

"That would be telling." And with that, the Heartless climbed onto him, skinny limbs sliding over him like liquid darkness. It pushed his legs apart with one knee, then casually thrust into him. Sora let out a strangled scream as he felt that horrible _thing_ inside. It was cold and greasy but big too big for him and his insides clenched helplessly around it as revulsion shook him. The Heartless sighed in pleasure, then pulled out and thrust back in.

He felt like he was being torn apart. Blood started to drip down his thighs as his body shook with each thrust, and Sora couldn't help it… he started to cry and gasp out a name. He struggled against the ropes until they bit into his flesh, and more blood slid down onto the slab as the creature violated him. It seemed to take forever, the Heartless pounding him into the slab, but finally it was over and the Heartless withdrew, chuckling. It slid a hand through damp curls, and pulled his head back, gently shaking it from side to side.

"I knew you were so much weaker than you pretend, but I'll admit, you surprised me. I didn't think you'd start to cry for your mama halfway through." The Heartless chuckled cruelly as more tears slid down Sora's face. "Pathetic. I wonder who your other would cry for? Well, someone will know…" Sora blinked, trying to understand even in the haze of pain. What did the Heartless mean?

Then it slid away from him, but Sora didn't have much time to be grateful. There was a crack of a whip, and an entirely new pain began.

* * *

"Merlin, what is this?" Riku asked Merlin, dumping the bag he was carrying onto the table. The little flower in its transparent cube tumbled out. After the boy had shown up again, they had searched for the thing he'd thrown away and found the cube with the flower. Unsure of what it was for or why he was carrying it, they had pushed it into a bag to take with them to Merlin. Surely he would know what it was, and might have some insight into what was happening.

Riku had no idea how fortunate he had been that Sora had done the pushing. The cube was keyed to him, and as he went to gently prod it, it vanished. He stepped back with surprise and Merlin blinked, walking over to examine the flower.

"My word! What is that doing on my table? You'll taint all my notes! Oh, don't touch it!" Merlin exclaimed, hurrying off and coming back wearing heavy duty gloves and carrying a crystal bowl. "Is this a gift for me? But no one should have sold it to you without a container. How did you get it here?" Mumbling to himself, he gently picked up the flower and put it in the bowl. Sora, Riku and Kairi watched, mystified as Cid snorted.

"Make some sense, you daft old coot!" Merlin immediately bristled.

"Old! Why, you should talk you-" Sora interrupted. He seriously wanted to know what the flower was now.

"Stop! What is that thing, Merlin?" Merlin blinked at them, surprised.

"Oh. You don't know? It's a Glory Bloom. Wonderful things if used in moderation but terrible dangerous to handle. Why, if you touched it with your bare skin you would die horribly as the wild magic inside it consumed you. But just a tiny bit of it could magnify your magic considerably. Everyone uses them sometimes. Great little things." Merlin examined his prize, pleased, then carried it off to join some other very magical supplies as the group exchanged glances.

"The cube disappeared when I touched it." Riku said thoughtfully, watching as Merlin tried to find a good place for the bloom. "But you could touch it just fine, Sora." Riku's eyes narrowed as he thought. "That… was meant for me."

"But he threw it away." Kairi pointed out, and Riku nodded slowly.

"Who is that boy?" He mused, then noticed Sora rubbing his butt and wincing. "Sora, are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine… I… ah!" Sora gasped, then suddenly gripped Riku's arm, eyes beginning to water. "Riku!" His knees buckled and he slid to the ground, shuddering. "RIKU!" Riku, shocked, put his arms around the struggling boy as Merlin hurried over.

"Sora, what is it, what's wrong?" He could see the pain on Sora's face but couldn't figure out what was happening. Sora just whimpered, shaking his head as the unexplained pain rocked him.

"It feels like… like… Riku!" Sora choked out, unable to voice what it really felt like. He'd never been raped before but he was sure that was what he was feeling, and it felt so immediate, so real… Sora buried his face in Riku's shirt, sobbing. Merlin touched his shoulder then and the pain… receded. It was still there, but distant, and he looked up, blinking. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. I can't remove the spell." Merlin suddenly looked tired, rubbing his face with one hand. "I've never seen such a potent spell of that sort. It should be impossible." He held up one hand, forestalling any questions, and then explained. "It's a voodoo type enchantment. Someone is using some kind of copy of you, tormenting it and sending you the pain. I've seen it done before, but never on this level… it's usually a very easy thing to stop. But it's as if someone has a perfect copy of you… this is just so strong. I've blocked it for a time, but that is going to wear off."

"This has got to stop." Riku growled. "This must be Maleficent." They had foiled several of her plots, and Maleficent did have a penchant for revenge. "Come on, we're leaving." He helped Sora up, and they departed for Maleficent's castle.

As she knew they would.

* * *

"That way!" Kairi turned to look the way Sora was pointing… down? "He's that way, I can feel it." The link Maleficent had created between him and his double was doing more than just transmitting pain… it was letting Sora sense the right direction to his copy. But even with that, the white castle was huge, and it took time to find the right way… too much time. Sora clamped a hand over his left eye and gasped as they ran.

"What's wrong?" Riku asked tensely, but Sora just shook his head, trying to ignore the pain. What was happening to his copy to cause that much pain in his eye? Sora didn't want to think about it.

* * *

Sora shuddered as the pain finally died to something manageable. His throat felt raw from the screaming. His left eye was gone, now, burnt out with a hot iron. The left side of his face really was a complete horror show now… Sora took a deep breath, and started on the rope again. He had worn it almost to nothing and still the Heartless didn't seem to notice. If he could just get a hand free, he still had the keyblade…

"Now, what next?" The Heartless walked back and he stopped knawing. He couldn't be ridiculously obvious. It hooked a hand under his chin, lifting his face up. "The other eye, perhaps? I have acids that would do the job in no time." Sora felt ill at the thought. There were plenty of one eyed thieves in the world, but no blind ones.

"Please, no." Sora whispered, and the Heartless version of himself chuckled, running a finger over his cheek.

"I think I like hearing you beg… beg for your eye, Sora." Sora shuddered, feeling something inside himself breaking. But he feared poverty more than anything else. He had no friends and family who would help him, unless he could get back to his mother on the Destiny Islands. If we went back to Nazarethim blind, he wouldn't live long. Blind beggars were just too vulnerable, prey to anyone and anything.

"Please." He said hoarsely, tears sliding down his cheek. "Please don't." The Heartless hummed in pleasure as he humbled himself.

Then the door slammed open, and the Heartless looked up, unsurprised as the three friends rushed into the room.

"Oh, you're here. What a shame, I was hoping for a little longer." It said casually as they stared at the… anti-Sora…? Holding the other Sora's chin. He dropped that, and called up a blade of darkness in one hand. "Time for the finale, then." And he sliced down at the copy's chest-

But Sora jerked wildly, and the cord finally parted. He summoned the keyblade as he turned awkwardly, rolling onto his side. The black blade connected with it in a stunning impact. The Heartless jerked back, surprised.

"Why you little!" If the Heartless had had the time to take a second try, he would have died. But he didn't have time, and the Way to Dawn smashed through him as Riku leapt forward. The anti-Sora vanished as if it had never been, and Sora slumped back, holding the Kingdom Key tightly as he looked at Riku, Kairi and his other self dully. Riku hesitated, then started cutting the ropes away as Kairi tried healing spells. Sora just stared at his copy, meeting his gaze.

"How could she do this to you?" Riku growled as he saw all the injuries. That made Sora smile.

"I deserve it." He said softly, rubbing his wrists and sitting up. The healing spells were getting rid of the worst of the pain, although everything still hurt. His back had been flayed rather artistically, and that was going to take a while to heal. He looked around and quickly found his clothes, putting them back on and ignoring the dried blood. Riku frowned at him, shaking his head.

"You can't possible deserve this. It isn't your fault Organization 13 made you to cause trouble for us." Sora stopped for a moment, then laughed and wound the scarf around his head. Right now, his eye was even uglier than his face.

"You're so funny, Riku. You have no idea how wrong you are." Sora swallowed, rubbing his throat and wishing for some water. Then his other self spoke.

"Well, what are you then?" Sora demanded. He didn't like his copy. Something about him was… was just wrong. Not different but too… similar. The copy even moved like him. Roxas had been more different. The copy turned to look at him, and he couldn't help but wince at the sight of his crumpled face. It was even worse because the right side was so perfect.

"I'm you. The way you would have been if you had gotten cancer when you were six." He ran a finger over his face as the three friends stared at him. "And everything went from there… I was never a hero. I never had a keyblade. When the Destiny Islands died, I ended up in Nazarethim and survived as a sneak thief. Does that explain things?" He swallowed again, then sighed. "Calling us both Sora is going to get annoying. Call me… Kora." _K for Kairi,_ he thought, then blinked. Why would he think that? Kairi was probably safe with Riku in the Destiny Islands by now. Surely he had found her heart.

"Alright… Kora." Riku said, and Kora had to suppress his pain as he looked at the silver haired boy. He was so similar to the one he had known, although he had a very different keyblade. "Will you help us take care of Maleficent?"

"And will you give me back my keyblade?" Sora was trying to summon it, and not having any luck. Kora blinked at him, surprised, then looked down at the keyblade in his hand.

"I… can't. It doesn't want to go." He could instinctively feel that, and Sora stared at the blade, looking betrayed. He could feel it too. "Maybe I have to do something. And sure. I'd love to kill her." After what he had been through, he would do it without a second thought. He might deserve what had happened, for his crimes, but Maleficent certainly deserved to die. "She's probably in the tower. I'll lead you." He started out, wincing but managing to set a good pace. "Do any of you have any water?" His throat was starting to feel like sandpaper.

"Oh, here." Kairi handed him a flask, and he gratefully drained it then passed it back. Then he frowned as he felt something.

"Why did you say that you hate me?" Sora finally asked. For a while, he thought his double was going to answer, but Kora finally sighed.

"Jealousy, obviously. You have everything I don't. A life on the Destiny Islands… friends who care about you… like Riku." He couldn't keep the bitterness out of his tone, and Kairi spoke, her voice gentle.

"I'm sure your Riku cares about you." She knew Riku and Sora loved each other. Surely it wasn't so very different for Kora. But he just laughed, a bitter, jagged sound.

"That's the Kairi I knew, so sweet and ready to think the best of everyone… but no, he doesn't care about me. He wasn't looking for me at all." That was part of the reason why he had dithered too long about speaking to Riku. Riku had never mentioned him at all in his search. He had only cared about Kairi. "I hope he found your heart." He didn't see the three friends exchange shocked glances behind him.

"But… but Kairi's heart was…" Sora started, but didn't get to finish. They had reached the top of the tower, and Maleficent was working on another spell. This one was a huge, spiraling pattern inlaid on the tower floor with dark green light. Kora flinched as he felt the power. It was huge, terrible and… familiar. Too familiar. Worse, perhaps, was the way Maleficent was working on the spell. He'd seen wizards and witches at work before and knew the way things should go. This wasn't it. Maleficent looked annoyed but he thought he could catch an undertone of fear in her voice as she chanted, clearly trying to keep the spell on target but throwing up protective wards at the same time. Something was going wrong.

A moment later he knew exactly what was wrong when a baleful red light filled the centre of the room. He shuddered as he felt it tug at his heart. Only that light within him kept him anchored, because he knew this feeling… he'd lived with it for years.

"She's trying to banish us to Nazarethim! Probably using me, since I've lived there so long." He told the others, and Riku started forward to stop Maleficent, but Kora gripped his shoulder. "No! The spell isn't working right! She's opening a gate!" He could feel it, the tension in the air, the stillness of something very unpleasant on the verge of happening. Maleficent had spotted them but didn't stop her chanting for a moment and he could tell she wasn't trying to keep the spell working anymore. She was calling in potent protections to save herself from what lay on the other side of the gate, forcing it open with a ghastly power.

A whiff of air from that other place slid into the room, and Sora, Riku and Kairi all recoiled at the horrific stench. Kora didn't. He knew that smell… it was very faint in Nazarethim, but it was always there. He'd assumed it was just the way the city smelled. Now he wondered… if he had gone into the countryside, would he have smelled the exact same thing? Was it the world itself that stank? Maleficent stood grimly in her part of the spell, and Kora could see why as he looked at the floor. The spell had inbuilt protections for her, but if she moved she would break them. She had no choice.

For a moment he was tempted to just turn away and let this thing have her. But… if he did that, they would have to depart very, very quickly or it would claim them too. Kora didn't think they would make it. A thin sliver of red light appeared in midair, in the centre of the pattern, and Kora somehow knew that it was the lid of an eye. And if it opened enough to see them, they would be lost.

"This is what I have to do." Kora said, finally feeling at peace. He knew what needed to be done, and glanced at Sora. "If I don't make it, spill some wine on my grave or something."

"Wait, what are you-" Riku tried to grab him but only caught the edge of his scarf, accidentally pulling it off as he sprinted towards the centre of the circle. "Hey!" Kora ignored him as he ran directly through the spell, shattering Maleficents protections and making her cry out in anger. But it didn't matter, and he slammed the keyblade directly into the eye. The keyblade had been made to open and close keyholes, and with his connection to Nazarethim, perhaps it would be enough.

There was an unearthly howl, and something touched his mind. Kora screamed in anguish as it tore into him like a burning knife and wondered if he was dying. But then suddenly, it was gone, and the keyblade fell to the ground. Kora fell to his knees beside it, sobbing as he gripped his head. It felt like his mind had been raped now, as well as his body. He looked up as someone stepped up beside him, and glared as he realized it was Maleficent. She smiled down at him.

"Bravely done. It seems I've lost this time… but you've lost more. You will never handle magic again." Kora blinked. No, that couldn't be right! They always lied…

_Except when the truth will hurt you more._ Tears welled up, and he blinked them back. Riku shouted something and attacked, but Maleficent vanished into the darkness with a laugh as Kora stared at the Kingdom Key.

_Except when the truth will hurt you more…_


	6. Kairi's Heart

"Eleven… twelve… thirteen…" Kora grunted as he did pushups. When he'd lived as a thief, he'd been constantly working and rarely needed to actually exercise. His work had been more than exercise enough.

But now things were different. He was living with Kairi, because Sora had trouble relaxing around him and Riku was just too painful to contemplate. It had been a bit awkward at first, living with a girl, but they'd both gotten used to it. It helped that Kora was used to living on his own. Unlike Sora, who could be quite messy, he'd learned to keep his space neat. Knowing exactly where everything was and having it in position to grab quickly was an advantage if you had to run for your life. That had happened on several occasions.

Finishing with his pushups, Kora pushed himself to his feet, grabbing a cloth and wiping off the sweat. He reached up and tugged on the black eyepatch he was wearing… it was taking some getting used to, but was vastly preferable to the ruined socket. Taking a deep breath, he summoned in the keyblade and began to practice again.

He hadn't been able to give it back to Sora. He had tried, they both had tried and even Merlin had tried to help. But the Kingdom Key stubbornly stayed with Kora. He had no idea why and he didn't even want it. The keyblade didn't seem right for him anyway, not anymore. He was too tainted for such a pure weapon. But if he gave it to Sora, it just came back. Sora was taking it fairly well, but clearly wasn't happy about it. Kora couldn't blame him a bit.

He worked until he was tired but not exhausted, then dismissed the keyblade and began his daily chores. He'd taken over certain tasks in Kairi's home, like vacuuming, sweeping and cleaning the toilets. Also opening any hard to open jars, but that went without saying. He was also doing schoolwork, even though it was summer… remedial lessons they'd gotten from the Home Learners centre. The lessons were meant to be taught by a parent, and Kairi was helping him with them. He was three years behind his double when it came to schoolwork. On Nazarethim, just being able to read had made him marvelously educated…

When the work was done, Kora rubbed his face. He was tired now, very tired. Old habits were hard to break and, after a bit of reflection, he'd seen no real reason to break them. So he slept during most of the day, was active in the evening and night and did most of his chores in the morning. Kairi was with Riku and Sora most of the day, and tutored him in the evening, so it all worked out fairly well.

Except for the fact that it all felt completely pointless. He mechanically stripped down to his boxers, then slipped into bed, tugging the light blanket over himself. But falling asleep was always hard, and he couldn't help but think.

He wasn't sure why he was doing this, except for a stubborn refusal to give up. That light inside himself, gently prodding him on when he wanted to just give up and stop. He was just as alone here as he had been in Nazarethim. Kairi was his only real friend, and she was a good friend, but he couldn't really open up to her. And the whole world was like a twisted reflection of what he knew. It wasn't just his other self… it was the trees that were missing, the rocks that were slightly different. Everything was just… off. It wasn't his universe, and he could tell. It didn't feel like coming home. It felt like entering a strange land.

Worse yet, he had no idea what he was going to do with his life. Maleficent had been right about his magic. He could hardly sense anything at all, and every time he tried it gave him an instant migraine. Kora couldn't be entirely certain, but he thought it was likely he had burnt out his gifts. So his dreams of being a wizard were finished and he couldn't be a thief in the Destiny Islands. So what was he? A boy, going to school? And what then… a job at the corner store with small children pointing at him?

"I should be grateful." He said softly to himself, closing his eye. "There's plenty of food here, I don't have to kill anyone or risk maiming every day…" But somehow, he wanted that back. Nazarethim had sucked, but at least he'd been his own person. He'd had plans, a future in mind, even if a single mistake could have put an end to it.

_Give it time. You'll get used to it here._ His conscience consoled him, and Kora sighed, rolling over as he tried to sleep. Strangely, his mind played the sound of Kairi singing a lullaby as he fell asleep…

* * *

"You know, I've been thinking."

"I thought I smelled something burning." Riku couldn't resist replying, and Sora rolled his eyes.

"Gee thanks… I think we need to do something about Kora." Riku glanced up at Sora curiously. Sora was sitting in their favorite tree as he leaned against it, below.

"Like what? Keeping in mind that Kairi has adopted him, so we can't feed him to the fish or anything." It had become a bit of a joke between them, that Kairi had taken on Kora like a stray puppy. Although he'd turned out to be very helpful around the house. When Kairi had mentioned that to Sora's mother, she'd made a few remarks about how she wished Sora could be like that. Riku grinned as he remembered Sora's reaction.

"Well, I've been thinking… Riku, I'm worried about the keyblade." Sora really did sound worried, and Riku frowned, turning to look up at him. "Why is it going to him? I… I have a theory, but it's kind of disturbing."

"What's that?" Riku was curious now. He hadn't been able to come up with any good reason for the keyblade's defection. His only, admittedly sketchy idea was that Kora needed the key more than Sora and so it had gone to him. Sora chewed on his lower lip before replying.

"The keyblade was meant to go to you, remember?" Riku nodded without comment. What had happened in the past didn't bother him anymore, although he'd had a roil of emotions at the time. "But it went to me because I had Kairi's heart. What if he has Kairi's heart too?" Riku's eyes widened at the thought. But…

"But if he had Kairi's heart, the keyblade in his world should have gone to him." He objected, and Sora shook his head.

"Not if he was too angry or sad… maybe he rejected it. Or maybe it was that awful place he was living. Merlin says that thing that almost got us is the heart of that world!" Riku winced as he remembered the careful divinations the wizard had used to determine that. Merlin had looked ill when he'd finally told them what the monster was. "Keyblades wouldn't belong in a place like that, not for long anyway."

"Maybe." Riku admitted. That actually sounded plausible. "And maybe my double was different, too. More… pure." That was painful to admit, but he'd always had a dark side. It was just his nature. "So what's disturbing about it?" Sora had said the theory was disturbing, but Riku couldn't see anything wrong with it. Sora winced.

"Riku… if I'm right, then his Riku never succeeded in finding Kairi's heart. Which would mean Xehanort never found the way to Kingdom Hearts and… I'm not sure what would have happened after that. But that means that Kairi never got her heart back. Her body must be in a coma for three years…" Riku's eyes widened as Sora followed the chain of logic, and he swallowed. That was disturbing. Kairi in a coma for years…

"Well, that's… interesting, but what can we do about it?" Travel between shadow worlds, as it had turned out, was insanely difficult. Merlin wasn't willing to try at all. He thought Maleficent must have been mad to have done it, let alone trying to do it twice. Sora swung his feet thoughtfully.

"I think we need to talk to Kora about it. Maybe… I don't know, maybe he can do something with the keyblade. Maybe that's why it's with him."

"That's a lot of maybe's, Sora." Riku said dryly, then shrugged. "It's worth a try." If nothing else, maybe Kora could confirm or deny Sora's suspicions about Kairi's heart. "Lets meet up at Kairi's at about, hmm, 8 o'clock." It struck them both as weird, how Kora slept through the entire day, but that just meant they'd have to find him in the evening. Kairi would be tutoring him around then, so it would be easy to speak to him.

Riku wasn't sure if he wanted Sora's theory to be true or not, but it needed to be looked into. If it was true, it would explain a lot.

* * *

Kora frowned as he worked on math problems. He was pretty good with math, but three years to catch up on was taxing his brain. He stopped a moment, rubbing his head and grimacing.

"Do you need help, Kora?" Kairi asked, and he looked up with a smile. She really was a good friend. It almost felt like being at home, with her here.

"No, I'm good. It's just giving me a bit of a headache." He reached for his water glass, and took a sip. He wistfully wished it was something stronger, but he wasn't going to be able to touch anything alcoholic again until he was eighteen. It was probably just as well. Then there was a knock at the door, and a familiar voice.

"Hey Kairi!" Sora let himself in, Riku behind him, and Kora looked down at his work as Kairi greeted them. _This is stupid… I need to get over it._ He reminded himself, but it was hard. Looking at Riku still felt like a knife stabbing at his heart, and it was worse because he was so happy with Sora. And he'd found out they really were a couple, which was an even bigger heartbreak. He'd thought his feelings for Riku were long dead, but apparently not. Not that he wanted this Riku, but it hurt to be reminded.

"Kora?" Kora blinked, and realized Sora had been saying something to him.

"Oh, sorry. I was thinking. What was that?" Sora gave him an annoyed look, and Kora thought perhaps he had missed something important. Riku smiled and shook his head, amused.

"Sora just said that in our world, Kairi's heart was hidden inside him. That's why he had the Kingdom Key. He thinks maybe it's the same for you." Riku said patiently, and Kora blinked, surprised.

"Wait, you think I have Kairi's heart?" Kora's gaze went blank as he turned his attention inwards. "Oh… no…" Sora looked a little disappointed at that denial, but Riku watched Kora intently. Kairi gently touched his shoulder, and he looked up at her. Could it really be true? He looked down again, and asked the light in his heart… "Kairi… is that you?"

_Yes._ The answer was simple but gentle, and Kora drew a deep, shuddering breath. Now he knew why his 'conscience' was usually speaking in an echo of Kairi's voice.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He said, his voice breaking. Sora started to say something but Riku hushed him. He could tell Kora wasn't talking to them.

_For a long time I wasn't really aware of anything… and by the time I was, Riku was gone. There was nothing you could do. I've always been here supporting you, Sora. I'm sorry._ Kora sniffed, rubbing his eye with one hand. But Kairi was right… there had been no way to leave Nazarethim, and he'd have broken himself trying. Short of a gummi ship, there was no way to leave Nazarethim, and Sora sometimes wondered if perhaps even that didn't work very well. It would explain why Riku had never come back in his search for Kairi's heart. _That's likely, Sora. That… horrible thing… can be taken by surprise, but only once or twice. It's been corrupting you, you know._ Kairi sounded sad, and Kora blinked, then laughed. It was a tired, bitter sound.

"I've known that for years…" He looked up at the three friends. "Kairi's here. What… what should I do?" He had no idea. If he had Kairi's heart, then Riku hadn't found it, but how could he return it from another world?

"We thought maybe you could use the Kingdom Key to open a door to your world. Maybe that's why it keeps coming back to you?" Sora said and Kora looked thoughtful at the idea. It would make sense. But where…

_The special place, down in the roots. Where all this began._ Kora smiled at Kairi's prompting. It felt right. The place where everything had begun, so long ago.

"Right… well, let's go see." He stood, summoning the Kingdom Key, and explained. "Kairi thinks the spot to try would be down in that special place, where everything started. And there's no way to know but go." He wanted to find out the truth now. And more than anything… he wanted to go home. He wanted to see his mother again.

_I'm sure she'll be glad to see you._ Kora smiled at Kairi's thought, feeling better already. It would be so good to see his mother again, and be home at last.

Home at last…


	7. Not a Happy Ending

Riku was standing on the beach, looking at the water. Kora paused, just looking at him for a moment, and felt his heart skip a beat.

The Kingdom Key had opened the door between worlds as if it was meant to be, and the four of them had stepped through. Kairi, Riku and Sora were very uneasy with the shadow world. They were feeling exactly what he had felt… that things were just a touch off, nothing was quite in the right place. But to Kora, it felt like home. The rocks were just right, the trees, the sky…

And Riku. Kora looked at him for the first time in years, and couldn't think of what to say.

"…Riku?" Kora frowned at himself, hating the way he sounded… young and afraid. Riku looked up with a frown, and Kora almost flinched as Riku looked at him. Kora wasn't sure what Riku was thinking, but he looked a touch put out. Not good.

"Sora. Where have you been?" Kora heard Kairi hiss in annoyance in his head, and couldn't help but smile a little. Riku's tone was cool at best. His gaze flicked over the other three, and his frown deepened. "What's going on here?" For the first time he seemed a bit uncertain as he looked at them. His eyes slid over Sora, but paused on his other self… and finally settled on Kairi. "Kairi? But…" He looked at Kora questioningly, and he sighed.

"They're from another universe, Riku. Where things went different. But because of that, they knew where Kairi's heart is… I have it, Riku. I'm here to bring it back." He explained, and Riku's lips parted in shock.

"Oh… we guessed that her heart had to be hiding inside someone, when we couldn't find it anywhere else, but we checked everyone we could. We thought you were dead… where were you?" Riku demanded, his expression hardening. Kora looked down, avoiding his eyes.

"I was in Nazarethim. I'm sorry, Riku, I couldn't have come back even if I'd known." He decided not to mention that he had spotted Riku there and not spoken to him. This was hard enough as it was. Riku grimaced slightly.

"Damn. I thought that might be it. Something tried to grab the gummi ship when we left, and it almost got us. I didn't dare go back." Sora nodded, unsurprised. Kairi had been right. "I'll call DiZ. When we figured out that Kairi's heart was probably inside someone, he made something to extract it." The real Riku blinked, surprised.

"DiZ is still alive here?" That was a surprise. It was also a surprise that DiZ would still be using that name, rather than Ansem. But perhaps not… Xehanort had blackened his name quite thoroughly. The second Riku gave him a strange look.

"Of course. Why wouldn't he be?" He started placing his call, ignoring them, and Kora sighed. He hadn't expected much of a welcome and he wasn't getting one.

"Geez, can't you say hello or welcome home or something?" Sora said, irritated with Riku's coldness towards Kora. Riku glanced over at him, expression glacial.

"No. Now be quiet." Sora stepped back, a little shocked at the tone, and Riku put a hand on his shoulder, giving his double a dirty look that he completely ignored. Kairi frowned at him, put out, and Kora heard that hiss in his mind again.

_He's being an ass. I'll talk to him later, Sora, I promise._ Kora smiled slightly and shook his head.

"It's alright, Kairi. His opinion doesn't matter to me." He looked up at the other three and explained. "Kairi says she'll sort him out later." That cheered Sora up a bit.

"Heh, she would! I bet he'll regret it too." Riku smiled and shook his head, putting an arm around his Sora. The other Riku closed his phone with a snap and looked at them.

"He'll meet us at the hospital. It's not far, we can walk." He started off briskly, and they followed behind. Kora glanced around, taking in all the familiar sights as they walked. His house would be right over there…

"I can't wait to see mama." He mentioned casually, and almost ran into Riku as he stopped abruptly. "Riku?" Kora blinked as Riku turned to face him, and there was a completely different expression on his face. Compassion?

"Sora, I… I'm sorry. I forgot that you wouldn't know." Kora stared at him, feeling faint. "Your mother died last year. I'm so sorry." Kora could feel Kairi's shock, but it was distant compared to his own shock… and the utter desolation that followed. Riku touched his shoulder as his eye clouded over.

"Oh, mama…" Kora whispered, and felt his dreams of coming home turning to ash. Home wasn't there anymore, not really. It was too late to come back. Kairi's shock turned into tears, and she spoke to him again.

_Don't give up Sora, please, you can't give up. I'm here, Riku's here, you can be home with us._ He felt arms around him, and realized the other Kairi was hugging him, crying quietly. He hesitated, then hugged her back, sniffling softly. He wanted to break down and cry, but there was still something to do. He pulled away and looked at Riku.

"I'm… okay. Let's go." His voice was husky but composed, and Riku hesitated a moment, examining him before nodding.

"Are you really okay?" Sora asked, concerned, as they walked. Kora managed a faint half-smile.

"Of course not. But I can deal with it later." He was good at shelving emotional reactions for a while. He'd needed to do it a lot. In Nazarethim, you often didn't have the luxury of having an emotional breakdown. Kora could sense Kairi's worry, but she didn't say anything as they walked.

Finally, they reached the hospital and entered Kairi's room. DiZ was already there, in a much lighter outfit than they'd ever seen him wear before. In fact, he looked like he belonged on the Destiny Islands. His gold eyes were kind as he looked at Kora, and he was holding a strange little device.

"He definitely has her heart. I can feel the lightness." DiZ said, pleased. "Sora, you know the dangers of what I'm about to do?" Kora blinked, surprised. Dangers?

"No, what?" Riku hadn't mentioned any dangers. DiZ shot Riku a gently reproving look, and the silver haired boy just shrugged. DiZ frowned then, but looked at Kora again.

"Well, extracting one heart from another is a very delicate procedure. I've tested this as best I can, but this will be the first time it's really been used. There's a possibility you could become a Heartless." Kora nodded as the other three exchanged glances. That was very similar to what had happened in their world.

_Sora, you can't!_ Kairi suddenly said, and Kora could sense her quiet panic. _Not right now, you're too upset!_

"Hush, Kairi. It needs to be done." He said quietly, ignoring the questioning look DiZ gave him.

_But not now! If he does it when you're like this it's not a possibility, it's a certainty! Sora, stop!_ She tried to reach out to him with hands of love, but Kora gently pushed her away and looked at DiZ.

"I'm ready." DiZ nodded and started the machine as Kairi called his name. Kora set his jaw, lifting his head as the process began.

It didn't hurt at all. In fact, he didn't feel much of anything… except a vacuum, a dead place that had once held life and light. A beautiful ball of light, glorious and warm, slid through the air and back into Kairi's body. As Kora watched, she coughed and opened her eyes. Then, with a feeling almost of gratitude, he released his hold on the world and fell into darkness.

"Sora!" Kairi wailed from her hospital bed, trying to reach out as he fell back. She tried to fling herself out of the bed, but her body was terribly weakened from three years in a coma, and she fell into Riku's arms as Kora vanished. "Sora, NO!" But it was too late, and a little Heartless scampered away as she wept into Riku's chest. Only the Kingdom Key remained, lying on the floor.

Kora was gone.

* * *

"So who are you?" The blond boy looked up from the black water he had been contemplating. There was another man on the beach, wearing a similar black robe to his own. The blond boy paused, fascinated by his red hair and flashing green eyes. He'd never seen someone with such vibrant coloring before. But then, he couldn't remember much of anything so maybe that was normal.

"I don't know. I think my name was Sora. Who are you?"

"I'm Axel. Got it memorized? So, you must be a new Nobody… it's been a while since I saw one around here." The blond couldn't think of anything to say, so he said nothing. "Pull down that hood so I can see you, huh?" He shrugged and pulled back the hood, and Axel stepped back a pace with a blink. "What happened to your face?" The eye wasn't too much of a surprise, but the face was certainly unusual.

"I don't know." Axel made a soft hm sound, and stepped forward, gently cupping his chin and tilting his head up. The blond didn't pull away, although he wasn't sure why not. But Axel's hand felt… nice. Warm. Nothing in this place was warm except the redhead.

"It's not that bad, just a bit weird. Well… your name is Roxas now. C'mon, I'll show you the place I've put together. There used to be an Organization 13, but they got kicked in the balls so I'm strictly independent now."

"Then why do you want me?" Roxas asked, slightly curious. Axel paused, then shrugged.

"It gets lonely here, even for a Nobody. It's always nice to have some company." Roxas considered that, and nodded. He was already feeling a little lonely and he had a feeling Axel would be good company. He offered the blond boy a hand. "Friends?"

"Friends." Roxas echoed, taking his hand.

It would be nice to have a friend.

Author's Note: I considered writing a happier ending with Kora/Sora finally ironing out his issued with Riku. ^^ If you want I'll put it up as an alternate ending, just let me know! *cough*review*cough*


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